Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe has been diagnosed with a right kneecap fracture, manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). He suffered the injury in yesterday’s win over the Angels when he fouled a ball off his knee.
It’s another tough development for Lowe, who is unfortunately no stranger to late-season injuries. He missed most of the second half in 2019 with a bone bruise in his right leg, although he was able to return for the playoffs. Lowe missed last year’s postseason with a recurring back issue. There’s now a good chance he’ll miss the playoffs again, with the estimated return timetable only leaving the possibility of a comeback late in a deep run.
Lowe is one of the game’s better offensive second basemen. The left-handed hitter has connected on 21 homers in 436 plate appearances, ranking eighth at the position. He’s walking at a strong 11.5% clip and owns a .231/.328/.443 line overall. Despite a fairly high strikeout rate and middling batting average, he’s an above-average hitter. That’s particularly true against right-handed pitching, whom Lowe has hit at a .241/.335/.478 clip.
Tampa Bay has been living with next to nothing offensively out of the shortstop position lately. The group led by Taylor Walls is hitting .188/.282/.304 this month. They’ll now also have to patch things together at the keystone. Isaac Paredes moved over there tonight against the Blue Jays with Curtis Mead stepping in at third base. The Rays have rookie Osleivis Basabe in a utility role, while they just promoted top prospect Junior Caminero (who didn’t get into the game tonight).
Lowe’s injury occurred yesterday, but the Rays had a pair of departures from tonight’s contest. Randy Arozarena is day-to-day after leaving with right quad tightness. They could be in line for another extended absence from reliever Jason Adam, who came out in the ninth inning after feeling side tightness.
Adam just returned after missing three weeks with a left oblique strain. He told Topkin (Twitter link) that while this discomfort is in a different area of the oblique, it’s more painful than the prior strain. He’s likely headed back to the 15-day injured list. The 32-year-old righty has had another strong season out of Cash’s bullpen, pitching to a 2.67 ERA with a 31.5% strikeout rate in 54 frames.
Tampa Bay is two games back of the Orioles in the AL East, pending the result of Baltimore’s game in Cleveland. The Rays have seven games left on the regular season schedule. They’ll host Toronto for two more, play a two-game set in Boston on Tuesday and Wednesday, then wrap up the year with three against the Jays at the Rogers Centre.
The injuries keep on coming for the rays.
Arozarena is getting traded this off-season, right? Maybe next if his arb is less than $9 mil.
Probably, unless they can get out of the Franco contract, which they might.
As long as the Freshman Finesser is on the restricted list the Rays won’t pay a cent of that contract
He’s also not earning significant money. The contract escalate further in.
True, plus the Rays never have to worry about the tax hit since they’re always at the bottom of the salary list.
The Rays’ issue is the 40 man, not the budget. They are going to have to part with players they have been depending on before the Rule 5.
The Rays need to put the devil back in the name and use some devil magic to keep players healthy for October and maybe they will win a world series and move out of st Petersburg?
As for Arozarena? Mozeliak is on line 9 and 6 and 9…. Babe Ruth puked out a stone? Zues said let’s name him Saturn? Hey uhhh how often do you think about the Roman Empire? At least once in a Greek moon?
I watched this live, looked brutal. He wears a foot/shin guard almost all the way up to his knee. And, as is their way, that baseball found a nice spot just above the guard. Get well soon.
To the writer: please check your facts and correct your article. Lowe was injured on a foul ball off his knee, not a HBP by Canning.
That sucks. It looked super painful. Was hoping it wasn’t this bad.
This is an all time Lowe for him.
No very good in the playoffs anyways
Was watching this game and had a bad feeling about this play
. Also, it was a foul ball off the PATELLA, not a HBP off the KNEECAP. Do these writers even watch the games or are they simply using AI to do their work?
Sucks. He was a having a good year.
Rays have been ravaged by injuries this season. Amazing they are still battling for the division lead.
They have depth. Everyone talks about the Rays “magic”, as if they have some secret formula or something. To me, their secret sauce is that, because they don’t often have a lot of high priced players, theyncan go out and scourge the waiver wire, try a guy, and never have to worry about roster space. They outwork a lot of front offices.
Never worry about roster space? They have had the toughest 40 man roster problems for years.
So he’ll be back for the rest of their games in 4-6 weeks. Great title for this article Anthony.
He’s walking at a strong 11.5% clip.
It’s 12% walking up the Mount Washington roadway, so that’s pretty impressive.
+1 for you. Funny.